Today we got up early as we are going to Kyoto.

We caught the Shinkansen from Maibara to Kyoto, which only took about 20 minutes.

When we got to Kyoto we caught a train to Kokusaikaikan station. From there we caught the hotel bus back to the hotel. It seemed to take ages to come. There weren't any signs as to where the hotel bus stopped so presumed we were in the right place, which forunately we were.

One of Sakai san's friends was waiting for us when we got to the hotel. So, we left our baggage with the hotel staff and met Sakai san's friend, Nakagawa san who was waiting in his car. Over the years Sakai san has bought a lot of Kimono's from him and she was keen to know where she could buy some fresh fish that he'd talked about.

So, he took us to a place where you can fresh fish which is quite rare in Japan. It was such an interesting place. Wish I'd been able to take some photos. Apparently the fish was quite cheap for Japanese standards. He was only meant to take us there, but insisted he take us around Kyoto more.

Then, Nakagawa san drove us to Kokusaikaikan station to pick up one of Sakai san's friends, Kakihara san who was an exchange student in America at the same time as Sakai san. She is also now a qualified Japanese language teacher for foreign students.

After picking up Kakihara san, Nakagawa san drove us to a famous udon restaurant for lunch. It was a great place to go and were people lining up in the streets to go there.

Nakagawa san was just amazing and offered to take us around the whole day, but Sakai san insisted him drop us off at Maruyama Park and that's it. So, he dropped us off at Maruyama Park.

The cherry blossoms in Maruyama Park were just fantastic. See my photo album for some photos of cherry blossoms in Maruyama Park. There is a great photo of a weeping cherry tree too. We gradually made our way from Maruyama Park to Yasaka Shrine. It was interesting, but nothing to write home about. Then, we ended up wandering through the back streets of Gion, an area famous for Geisha. We had afternoon tea at a cute little place. I ordered a Japanese style sweet that was in season with a cherry blossom flavour. It was really yummy. We then headed up to Chawan Zaka, Teapot Lane leading up to a famous temple called Kiyomizudera. We were all pretty exhausted after walking up Chawan Zaka. So, get a taxi to a nearby station and caught a train back to Kokusaikaikan station and then the last bus for the day back to the hotel. We just made it in time !!

When we arrived back at the hotel we were taken to our room. It was absolutely huge !!! There was enough room to sleep 5 people !!! Just amazing !! The bathroom was almost the same size as a bedroom !!!

After heading back to the hotel I just took things easy and got changed for dinner.

Just behind the back of the hotel there was a train we could catch to Ichijooji station, which was near where we were going for dinner. There were no ticket machines at the station we got on. So, were meant to put the fare in a box as you got off the train, but we forgot as were concentrating on where we had to get off. When we got off the train we totally lost our bearings and ended up doing a block from where we got off the train. I was the one that knew where to go to. We went to a really expensive restaurant called Yawaragi which was recommended by Nakagawa san. It was typical Kyoto food, very fresh and delicious. We started off with some warm sake too, which was great as it was so cold. The whole meal cost over $300 !!!

We walked out of the restaurant feeling very full and basically waddled back to the hotel. As we got off the train we paid our fares this time.

I was totally wrecked when we got back to the hotel, had a nice warm bath and went to bed.

This has been one of my best days in Japan so far.